Crossing the Crystal Hills

On October 11th, 1996, Skizlum Skallaglamm (that's me!) became the first
American monster to cross the Crystal Hills barrier. How to accomplish this
seems a matter of much debate, so we'll start there...

How to cross the barrier...

Approximately 225 squares east of the island's west coast exists a barrier
wall of Crystal Hills. These Hills provide an impassable barrier to land travel.
At this point in time, there seems to exist only one way across: Ballooning.

The Ballooning blurb can be acquired at Far Inns. Learning this blurb
requires that you have at the very least travelled to the Crystal Hill wall and
seen the barrier there. It may require that you have camped there as well. After
returning to an Inn, you'll need to do at least two stays to learn the blurb. On
the first stay, you'll receive some perfunctory information on the Barrier-
don't let this discourage you. You should receive more information on the second
stay.

Your method of summoning a balloon requires Yelling. If you have, as I have,
not bothered doing much yelling (or were yelled out for a long period of time,
as was another Monster I know), then your yell may not be strong enough to
summon a Balloon. If so, there is an obvious aid: Yellow Lotus Elixir. How many
times you need to have yelled to succeed is unknown: 60 yells with an Elixir is
known to be insufficient in one case, while 68 yells with an Elixir was
sufficient in another.

Note: Word from Keith at AbM is that the strength of your Yell seems
to be irrelevant. One Pumped-Up Babe, Skizlum's sister-monster, was unable to
cross despite having a stronger Yell than Skizlum. Keith, in order to help OPUB
cross, jumped her Monsterliness by a few hundred. She then crossed with no
problem. It appears that you need to have a minimum Monsterliness to cross, and
that your yell strength may not matter...

Note 2: Or, maybe not. Word
comes to me that virtually every monster to cross the Crystal Hills got a +400
Monsterliness boost. If true, this blows that theory out of the water. OPUB got
such a boost. Skizlum never did. Any other Monsters that didn't?

Once you're on the Balloon...

The balloon provides a wonderful view, mapping for you much territory you're
probably never going to be able to go back to. However, as you've probably
heard, the balloons don't land. With the aid of his trusty Loggerhead assistant,
the Kwando Aviator who's piloting your balloon will toss you over the side just
across the barrier. This is where your parachute would have come in handy.
Unfortunately for me, I didn't learn how to make one 'til later. The landing
cost me 112 health. Ouch!!!